Atlas Progression Guide (3.2 -)

Atlas Progression Guide  (3.2->)
by Karvarousku

This is a written guide for a video -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWqoMt5VvAM&feature=youtu.be
Find me on Twitch.tv/Karvarousku and on Twitter @Karvarousku
- Questions & Feedback is very welcome

Other useful links related to the guide

Hard-to-obtain maps + adjacent map you need to farm for it in one picture ► https://imgur.com/a/1XbNm
Atlas planning tool ► http://poecraft.com/atlas
Poewiki ► https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Map

I have included a full map upgrade (3-to-1 or +1) recipe at the end of this guide

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The purpose of this guide is to show Atlas mechanics and how to use them to progress your Atlas.
The guide is created mainly Solo Selffound (SSF) in mind as trade leagues allow one to just buy the maps.
However, there should be useful information and tips that are helpful for even those leagues.

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The guide is divided into 4 different parts

PART 1: Rules of obtaining maps and Memory Fragments
- This is the most important part of the guide and if there was one thing you should watch about the guide, it's definitely this section
NOTE: 3.3 Changed how Fragments 11-15 are obtained

PART 2: "Tier by tier" -method
Which showcases the very basic way of progressing your Atlas

PART 3: "Map by map" -method
Which is an extended and better way of progrssion

PART 4: Tips and other ways to progress
This part extends "Map by map" -method further, showcases a cool way of gaining memory fragments, few "what if" -cases so that you see other possible uses for the rules, and so on.

Most of the things included in the guide are recently tested to guarantee that they are correct, however is always a chance that something gets changed.
So if you spot any mistakes, please let me know so I can add a correction. All mistakes will be added to the end of the description, so remember to check that out.

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PART 1 - Rules of obtainng maps and Memory fragments (Shaper Orbs)

To keep things clear;
"Unlocked" or "unlocking" means to have a map in your Atlas in a state where it does not have Atlas bonus
"Locked" or "uncompleted" maps are maps that you do not have in your Atlas. You may own the map (have it physically), but it's greyed in your Atlas
"Completed" or "completing" means to have a map in your Atlas in a state where it gives you Atlas bonus%, which increases the chance a map drops as a higher tier
	- Most of the time when you run maps you try to complete them as you unlock them, because:
		- White (T1-T5) maps require the map to be atleast magic to be completed
		- Yellow (T6-T10) maps require to be rare
		- However Reds (T11+) require the map to be rare AND corrupted, so it's adviced to unlock them first, as corrupting a map can make it unrunnable for your build or change it to a completely different map

In order to understand how to ideally progress the Atlas, we first need to know how we can obtain maps in the first place.
This part is the most important part about this guide and by understanding even half of it will make understanding Atlas now and in the future a lot easier, even if things change

This part is further divided into 7 smaller parts:

1) Locked Maps
2) Unlocked Maps
3) Zana
4) Upgrading maps
5) Corrupting maps
6) Other ways of obtaining maps
7) Memory Fragments



1) LOCKED maps
- Can drop when running adjacent maps to them
- This is VERY important to understand, as we will be utilizing this rule the most in order to get proper Atlas bonus% and obtaining maps
- Unique maps can only drop if the base for it is unlocked. So for example Death and Taxes won't drop naturally (you can still get it from divination cards) if you don't have Necropolis unlocked
	- Unique maps are adjacent to it's base map, so Necropolis can drop while doing a Death and Taxes
- You can lock/uncomplete a map that is currently unlocked/completed by using a Cartographer's Seal on the map on your Atlas
	- The orb is obtained by trading 3x Sextants (Apprentice/Journeyman/Master) + Orb of Scouring to a vendor
	- Apprentice's Seal will seal T1-T5 maps
	- Journeman's will seal T1-T10
	- Master's will seal T1-T16
- When a map is about to drop, the game first checks if there are available maps in that tier's "pool". If there are maps available in that tier, it randomly picks one those maps.
	- If there are no maps in that tier, the game downgrades the map by a tier at a time untill it reaches a tier that has maps available.
	- Locked maps that are adjacent to the map you're doing are in that pool of maps, and that's why you mostly obtain the locked maps from adjacent maps.
- In patch 3.2 there is a line:
"You are now twice as likely to obtain maps you have not yet completed on the Atlas as maps you have."
- What this means in practice, is that if you have 2 locked adjacent maps available maps in that tier's pool, there is no change. 2 maps, and it picks either of them.
- If you now have one of those maps unocked, and the other one is still locked, it adds another locked map into the pool.
	- This leads to your chance at finding that locked map 2/3 instead of 1/2.
I will go more in-depth on when you should or shouldn't use this information to your advantage, and why

2) Any map that is UNLOCKED can drop while mapping as long as it's within drop level restrictions
- Drop level restrictions are:
a) Normal monsters and breakables drop up to +0 of the tier you're doing (So in an example a normal monsters in T5 maps will never be able to drop a T6 or higher map)
b) Magic and rare monsters +1
c) Map bosses +2
- Important to note that if you do not have +2 to the tier you're running unlocked, the map will downgrade to +1 due how map drops works:
	- First the tier is checked, if there is a map or multiple maps in that tier, the game randomly picks one of that pool
	- If there is no maps in that tier, the game downgrades the tier untill a tier is found where it can pick a map from.
Some extra restrictions:
- A lot of the "extra" monsters such as all Beyond monsters, normal Abyss monsters and normal and magic Breach monsters don't drop maps
- Unique mobs such as Exiles, Beyond bosses, Breach bosses and Invasion bosses cannot drop maps
- Strongboxes can drop up to +5 level of maps (with + level modifiers) as long as you have maps of those tiers unlocked
- Normal, magic and rare monsters added by sextants can drop maps, as long as they are not "extra" monsters mentioned above
- Nemesis rare monsters and Bloodlines magic monsters do drop maps
- T1 maps can drop even if they're not unlocked (to allow you to start progression in all 4 corners
- Atlas bonus increases the chance of a map to drop as a higher level, but drop level restrictison still apply.
	- This means that even if you have 120% bonus (every map will upgrade to at least +1, 20% of maps upgrade to +2), a white monster in a T5 map is still not able to drop a map higher than T5, as white monsters don't drop higher than +0 of the tier you're doing.
	- It does help you sustain and build a map pool, as maps that would normally be T3 from white monsters drop as atleast T4, sometimes as T5

3) Zana
- Can sell locked maps. Higher level Zana will be able to sell higher maps
- While doing a Zana mission you can find any locked maps within drop level restrictions
- Her shop will reset after you do her daily regardless if you completed it succesfully or if it failed.
- Leveling her up also resets the shop, so be sure to buy all the maps that you need from her before leveling her up.
	- So ideally you should never (atleast early on your progression) level up Zana with a daily mission, as you will miss out on a refresh
- Buy all maps Zana has before you do her first mission if possible, as she will level up from the first mission

4) Upgrading maps ("3-to-1" or "+1" recipe)
- 3 Maps of the same type trade up to adjacent +1 map
- Unique maps are considered it's base map. So 3x T12 Acton's Nightmares will trade up to a T13 Desert Spring.
- In a quite a few cases a map has 2 different adjacent +1 maps, and in few cases even 3, which means that only 1 of those maps can be obtained by the 3-to-1 recipe. (check the "hard to obtain maps" -list provided at the end of this guide)
    - Rules 1 and 2 allow us to increase the chances of getting that second (or third) map by a huge amount. Here is an example:
      We are doing T2 Flooded Mine map. It has adjacent maps T3 Cells, Excavation and Leyline, but 3 Flooded Mines trade into a Excavation. We are missing Leylines, so we need to farm it.
	    - If you have unlocked every T3 map in Atlas, (except Leyline), your chances of finding a Leyline when a T3 map drops in a Flooded Mines is 2/11 because any of the T3 maps could drop, but Leyline is locked (so it has twice the drop chance).
        - If you haven't unlocked any T3 maps (technically you could have Cells and Excavation as they're adjacent anyways and let you benefit from locked map bonus), your chances of finding a Leyline when a T3 map drops in a Flooded mines 1/3, which makes it a lot easier to get.
			- Now you probably already figured out that in order to get all the maps unlocked without wasting a life time you can't unlock every single new map that you find immediately, as it will lower your chances at finding specific maps.
		- There are few other ways to obtain them mentioned later, but most of the times you obtain maps by trading them up when possible or by finding them from adjacents or buying from Zana
- Shaped maps trade up to +1 adjacent map as it's shaped version.
	- So 3x T9 Shaped Strand will trade up to a T10 Shaped Ancient City
	- T15 Shaped maps are an exception to this and they will trade to T11 adjacent map of the base map
		- So a T15 Shaped Siege will trade "up" to a T11 Colonnade
- You can unshape/degrade upgraded map back to it's base map by using an Unshaping Orb to it on Atlas
	- Unshaping Orb is obtained by trading 20 Chisels + 5 Orb of Regrets to a vendor

5) Corrupting maps
- Corrupting a map with a Vaal Orb has 4 outcomes:
	- Reroll the mods of the map, up to 8 mods
	- No chance
	- Keeps the mods of the map and makes it unidentified
	- +1 Tier adjacent map
		- T15 maps have a chance to up to a T16 Vaal Temple instead of the adjacent Guardian map
		- Important to note that when corrupting Shaped T15 maps, if they roll for +1 tier, they can either turn to Vaal Temple OR a T11 adjacent map of the base. So for example a T15 Shaped Siege can turn in to T11 Colonnade, so be careful!
- You can corrupt a map with a Vaal Orb to adjacent +1 map that you would not othervise get from 3-to-1 recipe.
	- For example a T10 bog will trade up to a T11 Lair, however when corrupting Bog it has a 50% chance that when it upgrades in to a +1 map to be Primordial Pool.
	- Assuming all of the potential corruption outcomes are equal in chance and that there is no weighting on what map it upgrades in to from the adjacent maps, the chance of getting the desired adjacent non-3-to-1 map is usually 1/8 (1/4 for +1, 1/2 for the desired map)
		- In some cases the chance is 1/12 when there is 3 adjacents and you need only one of them, and sometimes 1/6 if both of the adjacent maps are desired outcomes like with Flooded Mines when you don't have either Cells or Leylines yet)

6) Other ways of obtaining maps
- Endgame Labyrinth treasure chests at the end of labyrinth will be able to drop locked maps, up to T13 (Some people say they've received T14s but I have not seen any actual proof of this)
- Unique Cartographer's Strongbox "Empyrean Apparatus" can drop any unique map (except Perandus Manor/Vinktar Square/Beachhed)
- Divination cards
- Some monsters in special maps bybass normal drop restrictions:
	- Final boss of Olmec's Sanctum unique map has +4 levels to his drops, allowing him to drop +6 tiers higher map than the map itself (+2 as map boss, +4 special mod)
- During Harbinger league there was 2 orbs that could modify maps. The league did not get added to the core game, but it may be possible to obtain these 2 orbs in the future if Harbinger gets added to Zana mods or possibly in some other form:
	- Harbinger Orb upgrades a map into a random +1 map, and has a chance to turn the map into unique map The Beachhead
	- Orb of Horizons changes a map into a random map of the same tier
- Unique maps are not included within the normal map drop pool, but they're considered as unique items. So increased item rarity/quantity will increase the amount of unique maps you find, assuming the drop restrictions are met

7) Memory Fragments (Shaper Orbs to upgrade maps)
- While these are not necessary in order to progress your Atlas at all, and actually slow you down when used early, I want to cover these due to most people watching/reading this guide end up shaping maps, and there are few cool tricks to get them. It's also useful general information
- You receive Shaper's Memory Fragments that when you give to Zana, she gives you a Shaper's Orb that allows you to upgrade a map for +5 tiers
	- I will refer to the Fragments as "Orbs" as they're practically the same thing
There is a total of 15 Shaper orbs:
	- 1 Orb for Tiers 1-7 (T1 Shaper orb upgrades a T1 map to T6, T5 orb to T10, and so on)
	- 2 Orbs for Tier 8
	- 3 Orbs for Tiers 9 and 10
	- They're split into two different "groups" I like to separate:
		- The first 10 orbs (1 orb for T1-T10)
		- The last 5 orbs	(1 orb for T8, 2 for T9, 2 for T10)
			- The last 5 could also be split into 2 groups as the orbs 11, 12, 13 and 14 can be obtained from Guardians or Elder, but the last orb is ONLY from Elder himself
			- And after obtaining all 15 orbs you will be able to get the Elder's Orb which will allow you to upgrade any map into a T16
		- Orbs are obtained in a specific order (sequence):
			- The first 10: T1 -> T2 -> T3 -> ... -> T10
			- The last 5:	T8 -> T9 -> T10 -> T9 -> T10
				- This means that if you don't have a T2 orb yet but run a Elder influenced T10 map, you will still obtain the T2 orb first. If you then run this map again right after, the next orb would be T3
- The very first orb is obtained from killing a map boss (unlocking) a Shaper influenced map that is atleast T6 granted you have ran enough Shaper influenced maps (actual number unknown). When you obtain the first orb, Elder influence shows up on your Atlas
	- Worth noting that the first time Elder shows up on your Atlas is when you get the 1st orb, so you can actually choose the exact location where Elder's influence starts. This allows you to decide where you start with him which has few advantages:
		- Being able to farm Elder modded base items
		- Being able to obtain later orbs by doing boss fights you decide. This is very important if you decide to obtain the higher orbs by doing Shaped maps. More about that method later in the guide
- After the first orb, the next 9 orbs (so until the end of the first 10 orbs) are obtained by running ANY (can also be shaped) Elder influenced maps of the appropriate tier: You will get T2 orb by running Elder influenced T7 map (as T2+5=T7), T5 orb from T10, T10 from T15.
	So by going the first 10 orbs in a specific order:
		- 1st (T1) orb is obtained by doing any Shaper influenced T6 or higher map -> Elder influence pops in to your Atlas
		- 2nd (T2) orb is obtained by doing any Elder influenced T7 or higher map
		- 3rd (T3) orb is obtained by doing any Elder influenced T8 or higher map
		- 4nd (T4) orb is obtained by doing any Elder influenced T9 or higher map
		- 5nd (T5) orb is obtained by doing any Elder influenced T10 or higher map
		- 6nd (T6) orb is obtained by doing any Elder influenced T11 or higher map
		- 7nd (T7) orb is obtained by doing any Elder influenced T12 or higher map
		- 8nd (1st T8) orb is obtained by doing any Elder influenced T13 or higher map
		- 9nd (1st T9) orb is obtained by doing any Elder influenced T14 or higher map
		- 10th (1st T10) orb is obtained by doing any Elder influenced T15 map
- After you have obtained the first 10 orbs, the next 5 orbs are obtained by killing Elder's Guardians and himself in native Red maps (T11+):
	- Now the maps have to be OCCUPIED (Occupation happens after you influence 20 maps by Elder) by Elder or his Guardians instead of just Elder's influence, and they can only be obtained in actual (native) red maps, so you won't be able to obtain them by doing Elder or his Guardians in shaped maps
		- Elder Guardians are the same level as your Elder, so in order to get the fragments 11-14 from Elder Guardians you have to occupy a native red map (T11+) by Elder. That way even if the Guardians are on yellow maps, you can obtain fragments 11-14, and then 15th from Elder himself

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MARKS RESPONSE
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Try to complete (bonus) on every map while unlocking if you can, however for red maps you should ALWAYS unlock it first because they need to be rare + corrupted for the bonus,
and corrupting a map can make it too hard to complete or straight up change it to a different map.

During the progression remember to use 3-to-1 (+1) recipe to obtain new maps and to check Zana every time she levels or you do her daily for new maps! Also corrupt maps that can +1 into a map that is otherwise hard to obtain if you do not have a dire need for Vaal Orbs and your build can handle harder maps.
Alch maps the moment you feel you can do so. Alching even T1 maps is worth it, especially when it comes to progression
Also keep in mind you might not get the perfect progression on your Atlas, but I am showcasing ways to get optimal route/order to go if you want to optimize your chances at finding the maps that you can't obtain from 3-to-1 recipe.


There are few different methods, and I will showcase 2 general ways to it: "Tier by tier" and "Map by map" -methods.
After those I will show other different ways to use the rules of obtaining maps. The first one will be very simple way which is the bread and butter of the progression, but quite limited. It's a good way to understand the basics though.
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If you are confused at any point during the guide on why something works or how something is done, read the rules (PART 1) I just went through.
Everything is done within those rules. If you're still confused, read them again and if you still have issues understanding something, I'm more than happy to help!
I' will try my best to explain things as throughout as possible so that just by re-reading this guide and especially the part 1 you should be able to understand everything

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PART 2 - Tier by tier -method, and why it's not ideal

The idea is very simple:
Do not run a map of a certain tier before you obtain every map of said tier. You don't necessary have to find every map, you can do 3-to-1 upgrades etc.
The reason I showcase this method even though it's not ideal to use as is, is that it's very simple to understand and I want to highlight it's flaws. I have noticed a lot of people think it's a good way to progress, and it just isn't, if you aim to progress faster

So in an example:
Complete all T1s, since they're unlocked by default
Do not run a single T2 map before you obtain all T2 maps
Do not run a single T3 map before you obtain all T3 maps
.
.
.
Do not run a single T10 map before you obtain all T10 maps

At lowest tiers this is a valid way to progress without any issues, however it limits you from finding +2 maps from bosses ever that would actually affect your progression:
Example: You're currently farming T5 maps. You can't run a T6 map as you haven't obtained all of them yet, so naturally you can't ever get a T7 map drop naturally
- You can technically get a +2 map if you corrupt strongboxes with + levels and your +1 map turns into a +2, but it's uncommon that non-cartograper's strongboxes even drop maps

The more maps the next tier has, the more difficult (=slow) it becomes to obtain all of those maps before you can progress, and that it's biggest flaw.
Let's take a look when we're at tier 8 maps:
There are 11 different maps in both tiers 8 and 9, and you can only find few T9s from any T8 map due to adjacent/locked map rule. The more T8 maps you have in your pool, the less likely you're to find a specific T8 map that you must farm for it's adjacent T9 map.
Gladly there is only 1 map in tier 9 that is not obtained through a 3-to-1 recipe (Temple), but by just looking at this map alone we realise that we should prioritize farming the adjacent T8 map in order to find it sooner, as other maps are available from 3-to-1 recipe
Later on (T11+ maps) this method becomes somewhat valid again as there are no more hard-to-obtain maps past T11 Primordial Pool.
- You can argue that it's not the optimal way to do even at those tiers especially if you are planning on progressing to a specific maps for farming Atlas bases (Park for Steel Rings for example) or a specific Guardian (Chimera for Scourge claw)

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PART 3 - Map by map -method

The difference with this method that instead of tier by tier, we're targeting specific hard-to-obtain maps in specific tiers. After we get those maps, we progress further
There are a total of 12 of these maps:
- 2x in T2
- 4x in T3
- No maps in T4-T5
- 1x in T6-T11
Early Atlas will feel slow especially if you get unlucky and don't get a single T3 map from Zana early on, but it will get a lot better once you get all the T3 maps

T1:
Complete all, since they're unlocked by default
Farm Beach and Lookout
- Obtain Arid Lake and Pen
	- You can now unlock Flooded Mines, Marshes and Alleways

T2-T5:
Farming Flooded Mines, Marshes and Allways
- Obtain Cells, Leyline, Burial Chambers and Port
	- You can now freely unlock all T2, T3 and T4 maps
	- A small note about unlocking T4 maps; Aim to unlock Chateau first as it's the adjacent map for Toxic Sewer which we need to farm soon
A note about T3:
- It is adviced that you first unlock Flooded Mines and maybe Alleways, as it's 1/3 chance to find the last map you need to farm from those maps
- After that unlock Marshes, as it's 1/2 chance that the +1 map is Burial Chambers, so finding the other T2s won't hurt your chances nearly as much as finding Marshes while trying to look for the last 3rd map from Flooded Mines or when looking for Port

T5:
The first T5 map you should unlock is Toxic Sewer, as the next hard-to-obtain map is Phantasmagoria
Farm Toxic Sewer untill you obtain Phantasmagoria

T6:
First a note about Shaper/Elder influence:
As Elder influence starts at the earliest from T6 maps, if you have Shaper influence in your Academy when you run it and you have completed enough Shaper influenced maps,
you will get your first Memory Fragment and Elder influence will start in Academy and some of it's surrounding maps
- If you really wish to start Elder influence in a different corner of the Atlas, you can run a T6 or higher map in a different corner, however it will hurt your progression a bit at this point
Unlock Academy
- After you unlock Academy, you can unlock rest of the T5 maps
- Farm Academy untill you obtain Gardens

T7:
After obtaining Gardens, unlock Underground River
- After unlocking Underground River you may unlock rest of the T6 maps
- Farm Underground River untill you obtain Mineral Pools

T8:
After obtaining Mineral Pools, unlock Courtyard
- After that, you can unlock rest of the T7 maps
- Farm Courtyard untill Temple

T9:
After obtaining Temple, unlock either Estuary, Tower or both, as they both are adjacent to Shipyard
- You can unlock rest of the T8s after that
- After obtaining Shipyard, unlock rest of the T9 maps

T10:
Unlock Bog
- Farm untill you obtain Primordial Pool


You now have all hard-to-obtain maps and can unlock maps pretty much however you want!

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PART 4 - Tips and different ways to progress

Remember when in part 1 there was a mention that Zana can sell unlocked maps and that you can corrupt maps to their +1 adjacent map that you don't get from a 3-to-1 upgrade recipe?
Those 2 things alone will let you completely ignore part 2 and part 3 if you play enough and are able to corrupt maps and still run them. I did not want to say that earlier because understanding the basics are essential to even know why and what maps you should be corrupted
However, I won't advice to completely throw out the previous methods out of the window, but rather combine the "Map by map" -method with everything I am about to say in this part of the guide.
Of course, a lot of what you can do depends on your builds' limits and strenghts, so don't corrupt your maps if you have trouble even running rare maps, because often the map might turn into something that you can't run and you just have to use it in a 3-to-1 upgrade or save for later.

Now, let's get to it.

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PART 4.1 - Explaining the change in patch 3.2

It only affects locked maps in comparison to unlocked maps, so it will not increase overall amount of maps that drop.
It will not make more maps upgrade into a higher tier, as this would mean it would also downgrade maps to a lower tier aswell when running a higher map with the lower adjacent being locked.
So the only affect it will have is within a specific tier and the chance of a locked map dropping in that tier versus unlocked map dropping in that tier
Let's go back to Toxic Sewer. No T6s unlocked, so we have Cemetery and Phantasmagoria avaiable to drop when run the Toxic. When a +1 drops, the chance of it being either of them is 1/2.
- The above means that, every locked map just has a second map in the pool of maps available from a tier. And when you unlock a map, the second map of that map is now removed from the pool.
- So in the case of Toxic again, when Cemetery and Phantasmagoria are both locked, they both have 2 maps in the pool.
	- So 2 of the 4 are Cemetery maps, and the other 2 are Phantasmagoria.
	- Unlock either of them, and the result will be 2 of the locked, 1 of the unlocked. So locked map has a chance of 2/3 which is twice as high as the unlocked's chance of 1/3
	- And when you add another random T6 map to the same pool with Cemetery and Phantasmagoria, the new chances are now
		- 2/4 for the locked, 1/4 for both of the unlocked.

Now since that's covered, let's go into why it's not very useful most of the time in practice when doing the normal map progression when there are hard-to-obtain maps around:

1) Back to the Toxic sewer example. We unlocked Cemetery to increase our chances at finding Phantasmagoria slightly, great! After we obtain the Phantasmagoria, we now have to farm Academy for the Gardens.
- We have to unlock the Academy to make sure we will get enough of those maps to run to get the Gardens. But because we have Cemetery in our Atlas, we can find Cemetery instead of Academy when a T6 drops elsewhere. This means less maps to run in the hunt for Gardens.
	- You could technically remove the Cemetery from your Atlas, however it is very costly to do so, especially if you do it every time. It's an option though.

2) It also has a downside where if you have a specific map, and are trying to obtain those maps from a lower map with no adjacent +1 maps unlocked, you're a lot less likely to find the one map you want.
- Example: I want to run T9 Scriptoriums. It is my only unlocked T9, however I run other T8s because +1 can be a Scriptorium.
	- Now if there is 2 adjacent maps to that random T8, I will have 1/5 chance instead of 1/3 to find Scriptoriums.
	- Scriptorium will still be the only T9 that drops from T11 or higher
In the same way if you want to run some native red maps, but not their adjacents, you're more likely to find those adjacents rather than other maps of the same tier.
- Example: I want to run Parks (T13), but I absolutely hate Villa (T12), so I leave it locked so it won't drop elsewhere in my Atlas.
	- Let's say I have 3 other random T12s in my Atlas. Whenever I run Park, my chances of finding that Villa is 2/5 instead of 1/4, and the other maps have drop chance of 1/5 instead of 1/4.
	- While I will still obtain more non-Villas from the Park, I will still obtain more Villa than I would without this rule

And then let's take few cases where it as actually usefull:

1) Early on, the progression where we are still farming for T3 hard-to-obtain maps:
After we obtain the Cells, Leyline and Port, and we have Burial Chambers left from Marshes.
- We can now unlock Springs, and since it's our only unlocked map and Burial is the last hard map from that tier, we now increased the chance of finding it from 1/2 to 2/3.
- There reason it's useful here is that there is no hard-to-obtain map in a T4. So it doesn't hurt our chance at finding a map that doesn't exist.
You can use the example above for the harder T3 maps aswell if you find Burial Chambers earlier. You can make your chance of finding Port and the second map from Flooded Mines 2/4 or 1/2 chance instead of 1/3.

2) We skipped some hard-to-obtain maps (because they can drive one crazy), but want to get them later.
Let's use Leyline as an example:
We either obtained Volcano from Zana or from Sulphur Vents while running it, we can now shape it to T9 and be able to run T9 maps while eventually hopefully obtaining the last T3 we're missing.
- So instead of the normal 1/10 chance we actually have 2/11 which is nearly twice is high. Hug e difference. You could also shape Flooded Mines or just run those adjacent maps whenever you get them.
- The reason I mentioned shaping Volcano to T9 is that if during your progression you didn't actually unlock every map in T9 (didn't obtain enough maps for 3-to-1 or whatever) you can obtain more T9 Volcanos than you could obtain T4 Volcanoes.
So this change makes the punishment of skipping hard-to-obtain maps a lot smaller.

3) On the flipside of it being bad for you if you want to run only few specific native red maps, it's a good thing if you are now trying to obtain those while having other maps of the same tier unlocked.
- You're still more likely to obtain those maps if you had no maps in the same tier, however it allows you to progress more corners at somewhat same speed.
- It won't feel as bad unlocking one or few T11s on other side of the Atlas while wanting to find a different one.

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PART 4.2 - Extension to part 3 "Map by map" -method
In part 3, we farmed specifically one map at a time. This is not necessary, and you can actually farm 2, 3 or even 4 maps at once.
This will likely slow your progression in the lowest tier you're farming by a bit, but speed up the other tiers, and let you build slightly higher map pool earlier
If that sounded confusing, here is an example:
Instead of just farming for Phantasmagoria, we can pre-emptively already farm for Gardens and Mineral Pools aswell
- So instead of having Toxic Sewer as our only unlocked T5 map, we can also unlock Conservatory (which then leads to Academy -> Gardens), Maze (-> Underground Sea -> Underground River -> Mineral Pools)
- This means that instead of almost every T5 map dropping as Toxic Sewer, we will be getting Conservatorys and Mazes aswell. And then T6s drop as Phantasmagoria (from Toxic, hopefully), Academy and Underground Sea. And a potential +2 drop from Toxic could be Underground River, so we're not wasting +2 drops by downgrading them to +1!
	- If you want to be really clever and got a bit lucky with Zana, you can actually skip unlocking Maze, Conservatory and potentially even Underground Sea too.
		- Now you have Toxic Sewer as your only T5, Academy as your only T6 and Underground River as your only T7. Chances of setting up your Atlas like this in SSF is very slim, but hey I wanted to include it in the case of "WHAT IF...."

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PART 4.3 - Progressing one corner before others
Some people like to push to a specific corner of the Atlas for various reasons: Chimmera for farming Scourge claws, Park for Steel Rings, Pantheon upgrades from red maps and so on.
If any of those are your primary goal, you can slower down your general Atlas progression a bit and speeding up your goals by keeping your progression on tiers in your desired corner(s) few maps higher than the rest. I don't advice to do this before you reach T7 maps, but hey maybe there is a specific thing you want to do that I don't cover here.

Example: Pushing to Chimera for farming Scourge claw:
I have followed the general progression (part 3) up to T8 maps. Now there are only 3 maps (Temple, Shipyard and Primordial Pool) left from the hard-to-obtain maps.
As all of these maps are atleast T9, the chances of me eventually corrupting them or getting them from Zana is pretty good (running T10+ maps still drop quite a lot lower maps, so I just always corrupt Courtyards, Estuarys/Towers and Bogs hoping for the +1 adjacent upgrade)
I immediately unlock Lair or Promenade (both of these T11 maps lead to Chimera), and only one of them. This way every time it drops I can either run it, hope for +1, corrupt it (for +1) and if the corrupting makes it too hard for me to run, I can save it for the eventual +1 recipe that will let me progress to next tier
I will keep this corner atleast 2 maps above others, so that whenever I am running a T9 map in a different corner of the Atlas, the only T11 that can drop is now the one I have unlocked on Chimera side. Once I obtain the T12 of that side, I can progress other corners to T10. Get T13, progress to T11, etc
- You can extend this to be more than 2 tiers difference of course, but I personally feel 2 tiers difference is the sweet spot and you can still maintain decent bonus

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PART 4.4 - Obtaining Memory Fragments #6-10 without doing any native red maps
In the part 1 - rules of obtaining maps part of the guide I mention the rules of obtaining memory fragments
- Fragments #2-#10 can be obtained by running ANY Elder influenced map. For fragments #2-5 it doesn't really matter, as #2 comes from a minimum of T7 map and #5 from T10.
- However in order to obtain fragments #6-10 you'd normally have to run red maps (T11 for #6, T15 for #10), which for a lot people who prefer Shaped Atlas strategies can be quite the annoyance as you have to lock maps after getting the fragments
	- Because any Elder influenced map works for the first 10 orbs, we can actually run Elder influenced shaped T11-T15 maps to obtain these fragments!
So the method is fairly simple:
You obtain the T5 fragment from a T10 map
- Shape a T5 map in the area that you have Elder influence to T10
- Once you find this new shaped T10 map, you can try to corrupt it for a +1 or just wait untill you get 3 of them which you can then upgrade to T11 shaped adjacent map (T10 Conservatory -> T11 Academy for example)
- Make sure that Academy (or whatever the T11 is for you) is influenced by Elder, and then run it. After you kill the boss, you will obtain the next fragment!
	- If you want to optimize this, you should try to avoid killing monsters in this T11 map before you have killed the boss and shaped your T6 map to T11, so it can drop while clearing the T11 you just killed the boss in
		- If you have a native T11 map in your Atlas, this is not as important
- After you have obtained the orb from your shaped map, you can unshape it and shape a different map that you'd prefer to run (as it is probably in a different quadrant than you Elder influence is now)
- Repeat untill you obtain T10 orb from a shaped T15 map

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PART 4.5 - Farming red elder
Red maps don't grow in trees, so if we have every single map in our Atlas unlocked it may be very difficult to sustain a decently sized map pool to farm Elder consistently
- To make it easier, we only unlock 1 or 2 different quadrants of red maps. You need 20 maps in total influenced by Elder before he occupies maps, so we aim to get as many red maps as possible without many yellows, of course
	- And the best place for that is Hydra + Chimera. If you have all red maps of those quadrants unlocked you can connect a total of 18 red maps + 2 yellow (Bog + Wastepool usually) within the influence, making the chance that Elder spawns in red maps higher than elsewhere in the Atlas


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LIST OF TRADE UPGRADES (Connected adjacent +1 map that you cannot get through trade upgrade in the brackets)

T1 (4)

Lookout -> Alleways                 (Pen)
Dungeon -> Flooded Mine
Graveyard -> Marshes
Beach -> Desert                     (Arid Lake)

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T2 (6)

Alleways -> Arcade                  (Port)
Pen -> Cage
Flooded Mines -> Excavation         (Leyline + Cells)
Marshes -> Springs                  (Burial Chambers)
Arid Lake -> Peninsula
Desert -> Iceberg


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T3 (10)

Cells -> Grotto
Excavation -> Gorge
Leyline -> Volcano
Peninsula -> Canyon
Iceberg -> Strand
Port -> Lighthouse
Arcade -> Courthouse
Cage -> City Square
Springs -> Chateau
Burial Chambers -> Relic Chambers

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T4 (10)

Grotto -> Maze
Gorge -> Channel
Volcano -> Sulphur Vents
Strand -> Ancient City
Canyon -> Spider Lair
Lighthouse -> Ivory Temple
Courthouse -> Haunted Mansion
City Square -> Conservatory
Chateau -> Toxic Sewer
Relic Chambers -> Barrows

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T5 (10)

Channel -> Atoll
Maze -> Underground Sea
Sulphur Vents -> Ashen Wood
Ancient City -> Fields
Spider Lair -> Jungle Valley
Ivory Temple -> Thicket
Haunted Mansion -> Wharf
Conservatory -> Academy
Toxic Sewer -> Cemetery             (Phantasmagoria)
Barrows -> Mausoleum

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T6 (11)

Mauseleum -> Lava Chamber
Ashen Wood -> Lava Chamber
Atoll -> Ramparts
Underground Sea -> Underground River
Phantasmagoria -> Dunes
Cemetery -> Bone Crypt
Fields -> Residence
Jungle Valley -> Coral Ruins
Thicket -> Arachnid Nest
Wharf -> Bazaar
Academy -> Tribunal                 (Gardens)

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T7 (11)

Underground River -> Geode          (Mineral Pools)
Ramparts -> Armoury
Lava Chamber -> Overgrown Ruin
Bone Crypt -> Mud Geyser
Dunes -> Shore
Residence -> Courtyard
Coral Ruins -> Infested Valley
Arachnid Nest -> Infested Valley
Bazaar -> Laboratory
Gardens -> Tropical Island
Tribunal -> Vaal Pyramid

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T8 (11)

Overgrown Ruin -> Vault
Armoury -> Vault
Geode -> Sepulchre
Mineral Pools -> Moon Temple
Courtyard -> Arena                  (Temple)
Infested Valley -> Plateau
Laboratory -> Scriptorium
Vaal Pyramid -> Museum
Tropical Island -> Estuary
Shore -> Tower
Mud Geyser -> Waste Pool

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T9 (11)

Waste Pool -> Bog
Vault -> Orchard
Sepulchre -> Belfry
Moon Temple -> Belfry
Temple -> Cursed Crypt
Arena -> Pier
Plateau -> Wasteland
Scriptorium -> Siege
Museum -> Siege
Estuary -> Arachnid Tomb            (Shipyard)
Tower -> Precint                    (Shipyard)

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T10 (10)

Bog -> Lair                         (Primordial Pool)
Orchard -> Waterways
Belfry -> Waterways
Cursed Crypt -> Mesa
Pier -> Pit
Wasteland -> Factory
Siege -> Colonnade
Arachnid Tomb -> Spider Forest
Shipyard -> Coves
Precinct -> Promenade

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T11 (10)

Lair -> Necropolis
Primordial Pool -> Summit
Waterways -> Torture Chamber
Mesa -> Overgrown Shrine
Pit -> Villa
Factory -> Crystal Ore
Colonnade -> Defiled Cathedral
Spider Forest -> Castle Ruins
Coves -> Castle Ruins
Promenade -> Racecourse

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T12 (9)

Racecourse -> Terrace
Necropolis -> Arsenal
Summit -> Core
Torture Chamber -> Malformation
Overgrown Shrine -> Desert Springs
Villa -> Park
Crystal Ore -> Caldera
Defiled Cathedral -> Shrine
Castle Ruins -> Ghetto

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T13 (9)

Terrace -> Colosseum
Arsenal -> Colosseum
Core -> Plaze
Malformation -> Dark Forest
Desert Springs -> Crimson Temple
Park -> Palace
Caldera -> Palace
Shrine -> Acid Lakes
Ghetto -> Dig

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T14 (7)

Colosseum -> Lava Lake
Plaza -> Sunken City
Dark Forest -> Reef
Crimson Temple -> Basilica
Palace -> Basilica
Acid Lakes -> Carcass
Dig -> Carcass

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T15 (5)

Lava Lake -> Chimera
Carcass -> Minotaur
Sunken City -> Hydra
Reef -> Hydra
Basilica -> Phoenix

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Or if you just want to se a list of hard-to-obtain maps and which is the adjacent connected lower map, here's a list for that:

T2:
Pen (find from Lookout)
Arid Lake (Beach)

T3:
Cells (Flooded Mine)
Leyline (Flooded Mine)
Port (Alleways)
Burial Chambers (Marshes)

T4:
None

T5:
None

T6:
Phantasmagoria (Toxic Sewer)

T7:
Gardens (Academy)

T8:
Mineral Pools (Underground River)

T9:
Temple (Courtyard)
- Potentially Moon Temple, reason explained in the video guide at during PART 4

T10:
Shipyard (Estuary/Tower)

T11:
Primordial Pool (Bog)